While growing up, camp was a place where I got away from the hot, sticky city summer days (I don’t really know why it always seemed “nicer” at camp.) We went swimming, canoeing, built fires and roasted s’mores, hiked and sang songs all day long. We would explore the tall grasses of the fields looking for native birds and collecting natural material to weave into mats. We would walk through the woods, climbing over fallen trees, looking at different plants, flowers, mushrooms and moss. We earned badges through completing a series of activities about a topic and at the end – we had to be able to teach what we learned. Each badge helped me to know how to set a goal and work towards completion. It taught me how to teach myself through research on a topic I wasn’t familiar with and recording what I learned.

I don’t think I ever realized that I was learning! Camp was such a magical, special place filled with friendships – girls that I still stay in touch with today. But it also was a place where without me knowing, I learned that I could try new things and fail and it was ok – or succeed and it would be celebrated. Camp was a place where I gained confidence that I could do anything.